


Stars in your eyes, the sun on your lips.

by dontmindme_imafangirl



Series: Who said flowers can't bloom in space? [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: <3, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Homesickness, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, Mushy, Outer Space, bc i don't write enough about the whole squad, everyone gets equal parts in this fic, it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 03:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10324106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontmindme_imafangirl/pseuds/dontmindme_imafangirl
Summary: Lance is homesick.It's a constant, a given, a feeling that seeped its way into his bones and engraved itself in his marrow.He misses his family, his friends, the ocean, the sun.Luckily he's not alone, and the people surrounding him care far more than they let on.





	

He was homesick.

It wasn’t a deep secret, a thing he could hide. It wasn’t an emotion that he could catalogue and dump away in the back of his brain.

Homesickness for him was…waking up everyday thinking he had been dreaming all along, only to face the bleached light of the Castle and realise that it’s not, in fact, a dream.

It was the overbearing fear, the one that tightened around his throat like thick rope, it was heaving breaths and jagged tears at the mere thought that this was his life now, that he’ll never see his baby sister’s smile or feel his parents hugs, he would have no more late nights stargazing with his younger siblings and study sessions with his older ones.

Sometimes it was more quiet, constant yet subdued. It’d be the odd twist in his gut when they visited a planet with green trees or blue skies-the latter rarer than he’d care for, counting the times they visited a planet that even barely resembled Earth on the fingers of one hand, or the sharp pain when he’d suddenly realise that whole seasons, years could’ve passed on earth and yet he's here, stuck in outer space for a whole earthly eternity.

There was solace in it all-albeit small, he knew there were places to find comfort, people to lean on. 

Having Hunk there was like a secret wink from the gods themselves, the grin on his best friends’ face and his bone-crushing hugs reminding Lance that he wasn’t alone in it all, he had the person he knew for a lifetime by his side, the same person he grew up playing play-pretend with, acting out scenes from their favourite science fiction films in Hunk’s living room, gushing over fictional characters whilst trying to fit the both of them on Lance’s bed.

Even Pidge, though he knew little about her at first, was a comfort, oftentimes reminding him of the little sibling fights and banters he’d get into with his two younger sisters. She didn’t seem to mind when Lance acted like a big brother to her, letting him comb her hair (even begrudgingly so) whilst he’d let her ramble on and on about the new machinery she’d be tinkering with. He thought it was perhaps a comfort for her too, having been away from her older brother for as long as she did.

Everyone on the ship tried their best to help him combat it. Shiro would sit with him on late nights, both of them finding it hard to sleep when a million thoughts twirl through your head, they’d peek out at the unfolding universe and talk, talk about the stars, about their past missions, about the food they’ve tried on alien planets, they’d range their conversations from deep soul-crushing talks to little banters between friends, until tiredness overtook them both. Sometimes Allura would sweep in, firmly place herself between the two and join in, trying to get both of their minds off of their homesickness and stress. Lance felt he could relate, oftentimes catching the light in Allura’s eyes as she remised about her years in Altea, talked on and on about her family, her friends, her life before all… _this_. He or Shiro would swiftly change the subject when it all became too much for her and she’d smile, small and quiet and so unbecoming of the loud cheers they were so used to.  
Even Coran, the one person who always tried to keep a light and cheery attitude, would sit down with Lance and let the younger boy ramble on and on about the things he missed the most, oftentimes pitching in his own intel about his home planet, until they lost track of time and realised with an odd content feeling that the two were getting along better than they’d ever thought they would. Coran, Lance realised, the oldest of their small odd group, was the one that had lived through the most things-he saw his family, friends, his entire life swooped away, his role as a supervisor and consultant of the royal family utterly destroyed as he stood there, unable to comprehend what had happened, thrown into a cryopod before he could even react. He shuddered at the thought, and hoped the small talks between them would help the older man as much as they helped him.

 

As for Keith…at first, even their rivalry, the petty comments and harsh words, were a form of solace to Lance. Having a way to channel his anger over the situation he found himself in helped, albeit in the weirdest of ways. 

Eventually, the closer he got with the dark-haired boy, the more the feelings of anger in him subdued, letting a softer, more bittersweet feeling take its place. 

He found out the feeling was love, on a day where they barely managed to come out of another mission, feeling every muscle in his body burn and ache, when Keith grabbed him by the waist, bringing them close and wrapping him in a hug, whispering how he thought he’d almost lost him. He was stunned for but a moment, before he brought his own arms around Keith, whispering back how he couldn’t get rid of him that easily even if he wanted to. There was a shared look of understanding between them, a bright gleam in Keith’s eyes that Lance could’ve sworn belonged to the stars in the sky, before he leaned in to kiss him, hoping he’d taste the same starlight he saw in his eyes.

Talking to Keith about his homesickness was still hard. As much as he loved him, Keith couldn’t relate to the feeling of leaving people behind in the same way he did-Keith had told him so himself on a night when his homesickness had hit the hardest, pooling tears at the corners of his eyes. Keith tried, he rubbed the tears out of his eyes, kissed his forehead and brought him close to his chest, let the taller boy whine and sob into his shirt, tried to look at things form his perspective, how painful it must be to have a family you can’t return to, a family who thinks you’re dead, without even a body to bury, a grave to cry over.   
He tried to avoid talking about it again, and Keith would let him, only after making Lance realise that if he needed a hug, a person to just vent to without expecting a response, a person to hold on to and let his mind roam-Keith was there. He always would be.

 

******

It was on a quiet day, Lance’s daydreaming going wild whilst his eyes were fixated outside the glass wall of the control room, when he noticed it.

His eyes widened, unable to comprehend what the gold speck in the far corner of his eye was.

“Ugh, Coran?”

The man hummed, turning to face the boy perched upon a chair in front of the glass.

“What…what _is_ that?” he asked, pointing a finger to where the golden speck kept growing bigger and bigger, pulsing more light the closer they came to it.

“Ah, that glowing thing?” Corn asked, coming to a stand next to Lance, “Why that’s a sun of course! I thought you had one in your solar system as well?”

He was in pure awe, jaw slack at the revelation. Sun? An actual sun? With _actual sunlight?!_

“Can we approach it?! Is it-is it safe for the ship to go close?!” he rushed off of his seat, bringing his hands over Coran’s shoulders.

“Well, it’s not technically impossible for the ship to get close, but forget landing on it! Never mind the castle, _we’d_ burn to a crisp in a matter of a tick!”   
“No no I get it but, can’t we just…go a bit closer to it? Just a tad is fine, just to get some sunlight into this place…” he sighed, expectant eyes looking up to the ginger man.

Coran smiled, small and bittersweet, before tugging the hands off of his shoulders.

“I truly am sorry Lance, but we have a schedule to stick to. The kingdom of the Rosinettes is expecting us for a meeting today, and we can’t be late.”

“Oh _please_ Coran” he sing-talked, batting his eyelashes at the man, “I just-Just enough to get that sunlight warmth on our faces and we’ll be back on track before you know it! Please?”

He saw the smile fixated onto Coran’s face and sighed, slumping his shoulders and turning his gaze to the floor.

“I just-I miss the sun. There wasn’t a day back home when I’d go without sun you know? And it’s important for our health too! It gives us uh, it gives this vitamin our body needs-Shiro told me about it, vitamin D I think, and it helps with our mood and stuff!” 

He tried and tried, but Coran gently rejected his reasoning, explaining how they had no time to lose if they wanted to make it to the planet quickly enough to avoid detection by the Garla and not displease the aliens they were to meet with. 

He sighed, turning to step away from the control room, already out the door when he clashed with a body firmer than his, tugging down and over it.

Peeking up he saw Keith, grunting and rubbing at the back of his head.  
He smiled when he saw Lance, a grin most unbecoming of him-Lance knew by now this was his face when he’d done something he shouldn’t have, like a kid trying to hide the cookie he grabbed from the jar.

“Lance! Hey. Didn’t-uh didn’t see you there.”

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing, still slumped over his boyfriend’s chest.

“I was on my way to the training room and uh-well I literally crashed into you. So you could, y’know…get off?”

He pouted, enjoying the gleam rising in Keith’s eyes.  
“Not that I don’t like this position or anything! By all means, but uh, you know, can’t leave the training room waiting right?” he grinned and gently but firmly tugged Lance off of him, pulling the boy up along with him.

“Now, I’ll see you later yeah?” he rushed away as if he’d blurt out a secret if he hadn’t, as if he had to stay as far away from Lance as possible.

He didn’t even get a moment to ponder over the odd behaviour before he heard feet scuffling back up to him, suddenly getting his vision full of a mop of raven hair and a hand over his neck.

Keith gave him a chaste kiss before running off again, waving a hand as he did.  
“Love you!” he yelled behind his back, leaving a blushing mess of a Lane behind.

 _That zero-filter mouthed idiot_ he thought before he rushed in the opposite direction, suddenly unsure what to do with himself, _he better not think a cute kiss will get him away from telling me what the hell he’s planning!_

****  
He was just running some errands for Pidge, who very _explicitly_ , told him she needed a handful of materials for her latest project and would have a fit if she didn’t have them soon, when he halted in his steps, unsure of what to make of the scene before him.

Barging into one of the machinery rooms Pidge asked him to go through, he stumbled upon Hunk, hands greasy and his hair brushed away from his face with the ribbon he loved to wear, a hand full of cogs whilst the other rubbed onto a towel tied on his belt.

That in itself wasn’t an odd sight-he knew his best friend had the biggest love for machines, breaking down everything he could even as a kid, only to built it up again, better and more advanced than before. 

No, that wasn’t what shocked him. What shocked him was _Keith_ , the boy’s arms folded while he spoke with Hunk, face grim and nodding along when Hunk replied to whatever it was he talked to him about, peeking down at something on the metal table in front of them.

They both stilled when they took notice of Lance, Hunk nearly dropping the cogs he held onto.

“Lance!” they squealed, almost in unison, before shuffling and hiding-was that a piece of paper Keith suddenly shoved in the pocket of his jacket?

“What are you _doing_ here?” Keith asked him, his efforts to put up his usual cool facade terribly obvious to Lance.

“I could be asking _you_ the same thing now couldn’t I?” he glared at him, noticing the bob of Keith’s adam’s apple as he did.

“I was uh-“ he turned to look at Hunk, the boy sporting an equally shocked expression, “I was helping Hunk out! He needed a pair of extra hands to help out, you know, for building…stuff.”

He loved Keith. He really, truly did, wouldn’t be dating him otherwise.  
But damn, this boy was a _terrible_ liar.

Interest piqued, he decided to play along.

“Oh, funny, I was actually helping Pidge out. Sent me to get a few stuff for her from this room actually. For building _stuff_ ” he snarked, smirk finding its way to his face.

Keith grinned back, the corner of his lip twitching, tell-tale sign the boy was stressed.

“Ah! Hah. Funny huh? So why don’t you go ahead and take what you need? We’ll be-ah I’ll just go and come back later alright? See ya Hunk!” he laughed, scuffling away from the two boys, leaving Hunk to stand there like a deer caught in headlights.

Lance turned, fixing Keith with his best _’We’re not done with this’_ look, before returning his attention to Hunk, making the boy evidently gulp.

He waited until Keith rushed out and away from earshot, before looming closer to his best friend.

“Spill.”  
“Lance I-“  
“Hunk. Spill. What’s going on?”

He raised his hands in defence, shying away from the smaller boy.

“I-nothing!! Nothing’s going on! I just needed a pair of extra hands to…build some…stuff.”  
“Now you’re just using his exact words! What stuff?! What’s going on, and why won’t anyone tell me about it?!” he was yelling by now, hands up in exasperation. 

He wasn’t really mad, couldn’t ever be, especially not with Hunk. But he was somewhat upset, somewhat disappointed. What were the two people he cherished so not telling him? Why were they throwing him out of the loop?

Hunk seemed to realise his worries, bringing him in for a half-sided hug, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“Look, I can’t tell okay? But it’s not a bad thing. I would’ve told you if it’s a bad thing. You just know your boyfriend loves you very very much, and so do I, and we’re not telling you for a _reason_.”

He blushed at the words, hating how flustered he was getting today and huffed, turning his head away from Hunk, trying his best to keep up the angry act as long as he could.  
Even if the two wanted to surprise him with _something_ , he was still not getting included in their conversation, and his insecurities were acting up. He wanted, _needed_ to know what was going on.

“Awe don’t do that. I know you’re not angry, you would’ve knocked over everything in this room if you did, and you wouldn’t let me hug you.”

He glared, shoving his way out of the hug.  
“I hate how well we know each other sometimes.”

Hunk laughed, taking no harm by his comment.  
“No you don’t.”

He puffed his cheeks. “Yes I do.”

Hunk grinned, turning his attention back to the skeleton of an engine sitting on the table in front of him.

“And I know you well enough to know you don’t. Can’t really hide much from me after 12 years of friendship.”

Eventually he gave up, slumping down and leaning his weight on the table. 

“Yeah true. You sure you can’t tell me what he’s planning? I want to _know_ Hunk!” he pouted, propping his head on his elbows and fixing Hunk with his sweetest stare, only making his friend huff a laugh.

“Nope, sorry buddy, but my lips are sealed.”  
“Even if I offer you cookies?”  
“I _made_ those cookies Lance.”  
“Even if I offer to _make_ you cookies then?”  
“ _Especially_ if you offer to make me cookies.”

He sighed, dejection seeping into him, before Hunk patted him on the back, giving him a sweet smile as he did. Really, he couldn’t stay angry at this kid for over a minute, not after this long.

“Alright space nerd, come here and tell me what Pidge wanted from you-I’ll help you find it.”

*****  
It was a few days later that he noted Keith acting up again.  
He had been fairly calm for the past two or three days, the twitching and stress of hiding something nearly gone, averting Lance’s questions with quiet laughs or kisses, catching him off guard every time he did, and Hunk did his best to avoid the topic, talking to him about everything and anything else instead.

Yet there were certain signs, red flags popping up telling him whatever they’ve planned is coming to fruition _soon_.

The first flag was Pidge, unexpectedly so. He was sitting on top of the desk she was working on, her screwdriver poking at his thigh in hopes to get him off of it, when she sighed in defeat and started quietly working on the robot cube in her hands-Rover Jr., as she called it.

At some point she glanced up to Lance, smirk toying on her face.

“By the way, I know something you don’t~” she sang, her grin widening.

Lance tried not to fall for her bait.   
“Yeah, you know a _lot_ of things I don’t Pidgeon. Heck, you probably know more than all of us combined!”

She didn’t falter even at the nickname she insisted she hated, wiggling her eyebrows at the older boy.

“Yeah but I know something you’d really _want_ to know~” she carried on, whistling a tune while she waited for Lance’s reply.

“Well I asked you only about a million times to tell me if sentient planets could possibly be a thing but you scoffed at me every time!” he pouted. 

He knew she must’ve known about whatever Keith was planning. She wouldn’t try and bait him into asking otherwise. But would she ever tell him _what_? No, of course not. Pidge was a little smart devil and he’d be damned if he fell for her traps every time.

She seemed to give up at that, shrugging and returning her focus back onto Rover Jr.   
“Fine, fine, be that way. Just know that things will get _lit_ in here very soon~” she grinned, letting the frustration rumble in the pit of Lance’s stomach.

The second flag was Allura.  
He was just finishing a simulation in the training room, chest heaving with each breath when she walked in, giving him a thumbs up from a distance once he took notice of her.

She approached him with her hands behind her back, trying to seem as casual as possible, when he let his laser gun dematerialise back into his bayard, turning to her with a puzzling look.

“Lance! Working hard I see!” she smiled, a cocky grin he could’ve sworn reminded him of Shiro’s own mischievous smile more than either would care to admit. “How is training coming along?”

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, tired from the antics of everyone in this Castle. Seriously, _what were they not telling him?_

“Allura I swear if you’re also here to mock me about this _great, elaborate plan_ I’m not part of, I will barricade myself and Blue into our own little space, _and_ take all the hair products with me!

She seemed taken aback for a second before returning, shaking her head with a small laugh.

“Oh Lance, no, I’m not here for whatever that is at all! I have no idea what you’re talking about.” she laughed.   
“Really! I don’t! Don’t give me that look.” she added after Lance fixed her with another glare.   
“I’m just worried about you. You’re the one that usually gets the most homesick, and you haven’t talked about it at all lately. I’m just hoping you’re not bottling things up.”

He froze at that, an odd discomfort finding its way to his chest.   
For a moment, with all the confusion and mischief happening in the castle, he felt it, felt the homesickness diminish, the unsettling constriction of his throat ease up.   
He was feeling more at ease, more like _home_.

“I-I’m not. Of course I miss the Earth and my family and friends, but it’s a given by now.”  
She smiled and leaned closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder when his face contoured into a troubled expression.

“It’s not that I don’t want to go back, see them-of course I do, but I guess…I guess I’m getting used to things up here.” 

She squeezed his shoulder, seeing his expression change into a small smile.  
“Are you sure you’re alright Lance? It’s normal to miss your family like so, but it’s also normal if you just miss the simpler aspects of being back on Earth.” she hummed in thought before returning her gaze to him, “What about the environment? Do you miss anything of the earthly atmosphere perhaps?”

“Where did that come from?” he huffed a laugh, wondering just what the princess was up to, “I mean, I do kind miss the small stuff. Like the sea. Summer air. The sun, Oh man, I _miss_ the sun.” he sighed, remembering his conversation with Coran. What he would do just to feel the warmth on his skin once more. Even when they landed on planets with actual sunlight, it just wasn’t the same, not under the thick layers of his paladin armour.

She squeezed his shoulder once more, and he could’ve sworn he felt a tingling warmth where she had touched him once she let go of him. 

“You did describe this sea to me before. We had something similar in Altea.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, his cocky smirk returning to his lips.  
“Yeah, no offence princess, but you had an upside-down glowing pink body of a liquid that I doubt could be called water. Let’s just not compare the two alright?”

She laughed, waving a hand to him as she turned to exit the training room.  
“It’s only upside-down in your perspective Lance. Sometimes things are only what we make of them!”

He didn't have the time to respond, ask her what she meant by that, before she all but rushed out of the training room, leaving Lance behind to ponder what the _hell_ was going on in this Castle.

 

*****  
The final red flag, the big warning sign that led up to it all, was Shiro.

He had just settled in for bed, meticulously going through his night time skin care routine, his sleeping mask on and his headphones over his ears, when a loud knock on his door boomed through his barricade of music, much to his dismay.  
He tried to ignore the booming on his door, covering his head with his pillow, but to no avail; the sound just got louder, and-was that sound someone yelling?

Begrudgingly he took his headphones and mask off, making a dash for the door.

“Lance! Open up!”

He did, wondering who could possibly be yelling for him at this time of the night-his mind offered two options; either Keith was up for some late-night talks, or Hunk couldn’t sleep again and wanted his best friends’ cuddles. Either way he was _not_ expecting this.

He was not expecting _Shiro_ to frantically pound on his door, eyes wide and mouth ajar when he opened the door and caught him in the middle of another yell.

“Shiro, buddy, you’re my idol, you know that, but I will _seriously_ reconsider that title if you disturb me in the middle of the night one more time.”

Shiro remained frozen for another second before shifting, straightening his body and looking Lance straight in the eye.

“I’m sorry, but we need to go Lance. We got a new mission and I need your help.”

He raised an eyebrow, folding his hands over his chest.

“A mission?” he asked suspiciously.

Shiro nodded.

“And why did I not hear the Castle’s alarm go off?”

“Because it didn’t go off. It’s a private mission concerning just you.”

He took a step back, growing more and more uncomfortable with the situation, until he felt something click in the back of his mind.

“Wait a minute-you’re working with them aren’t you!” he leaned in, poking a finger over Shiro’s chest, “did Keith put you up for it? What kind of elaborate prank is that grumpy mullet trying to pull on me to involve even _you_?!”

He noticed Shiro’s effort to speak, but ignored it in favour of rambling on, shaking his head at the unimaginable situation.

“I get involving Hunk-he’s a genius and my best friend so he’d know what to do to pull a prank on me. Pidge too, that tiny gremlin can outsmart us all, of course you’d include her in an elaborate plan, but _you_? And _Allura_? Please tell me Coran isn’t in on this! I need an ally in this mess!”

He kept talking, complaining about why they were all siding against him, why were they constantly bugging him, what the hell they were up to-

Through his rambles he didn’t notice the sigh Shiro let out, nor the rapid movement, him putting his arms under Lance’s armpits.   
He didn’t notice until he felt himself be pulled off the ground and wrapped across Shiro’s back like a sack of potatoes.

He squealed, wiggling his legs and demanding for Shiro to put him down.  
“Sorry Lance, but I’ve got my part to do and you not coming along will be troublesome. Now stay still before you fall off!” 

Lance kept squirming, feeling the blood rush to his head. So Shiro _was_ involved. Not just that, he had a _part_ to do, meaning it wasn’t just him, but the whole Castle crew that was involved in this!

With a sigh, he let himself be carried, only opening his mouth once to complain about the way he was being carried; “You could at least carry me princess style you know” he whined, “I’m not a sack of potatoes.” He screamed when the response coming from Shiro was “I know. A sack of potatoes would be quieter. Would probably weigh more too.”

Eventually they reached their destination, if Shiro placing him back down on solid ground was anything to go by.

He took a moment to ward the dizziness off, ignoring the apologetic smile on Shiro’s face. Even if he had to go through with whatever they were planning, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

A look around and then to the door in front of him only left him more puzzled then before.

“Uh, Shiro? This is the control room.”

“I know”, was all he got in reply.

“Should I…should I go in?” he cocked his head, but Shiro nodded, so with slow deliberate movements, he pushed the button for the control room’s door to open, holding his breath in anticipation.

What awaited him inside was…complete darkness. Every light in the room, even in the hallway they were standing in a moment ago, everything was turned off, the sole light coming through being the one of the stars outside the thick glass wall, and even that was significantly less than any other night he spent stargazing outside that very window.

It was like the world had suddenly got quiet, pouncing upon him the realisation that they were, indeed, smack down in the middle of space-they had no natural air other than the ventilation of the castle, no ground other than the cold metallic floors, no light other than the washed off white of the Castle’s electrical lamplights-

No light. He shuddered at the thought.

He turned to look for Shiro, ask him what the heck was going on, but before he could manage to utter a single word, he felt a warmth near his skin, a gleam that grew bigger and bigger arise from the corner of his eyes.

It couldn’t be. They were in _space_. The first thought that popped into his head was the most impossible, most absurd one he could think of. And yet something in him, it just made him believe that this warmth…

…It was just like sunlight.

He turned around, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness.

Right in front of him stood _Keith_ , the gentlest of smiles on his lips, eyes crinkling and gleaming at the light illuminating him, casting shadows and defining all of his delicate features-Lance could’ve sworn it was an angel, a space angel descending from the space heavens to give him the biggest of space blessings it could give-or at least that’s the thought his mind elaborated on.

Looking down he noticed in between Keith’s open palms, levitated an orb, the source of the bright light filling the room up to the brim with the warmest glow Lance had ever seen. It was swirling, turning in slow rotation in-between his hands, the warmth it radiated strong yet gentle all the while, enough to make his body heat up yet not enough to burn. 

He looked back up, back into the eyes he could’ve sworn were made up of stars themselves, to find their purple dancing with the glow of the sunlit orb, bringing out every single emotion passing behind those very eyes.

“Hey.” Keith grinned, seemingly amazed at the shocked expression on Lance’s face.

“H-hey? Hey? Keith, what _is_ this?!” he tried to sound menacing, demanding for an explanation, but all he could come up with was a squeak, voice barely above a whisper, as if anything louder would shatter the orb, the moment itself.

“It’s…it’s your own personal sun.”

He leaned closer to Lance, extending his open hands to bring the orb closer to him.  
He nudged Lance, urging him to take it from him.

Cautiously, he moved his hands over Keiths, scooping the orb into his own grasp, feeling it move and hover over his palms. His eyes widened, taking in the delicate sight.

It must’ve been made of glass, if the small reflection was anything to go by, yet it seemed like the entire surface of the orb was covered in a small fire, strongly resembling the amber flames covering their own sun, the one Lance couldn’t get enough to read about back in the garrison, even before that, back when he was a kid looking through sections of his local library for books about space, about their solar system, about the stars and their constellations.

He lavished in the enveloping heat, the clement warmth of the small planet rising from his open palms to the rest of his body. 

There were tears forming at the sides of his eyes, and he did his best to stop them from spilling, afraid they’d put out the comforting flames if they did.

“I uh, I overheard you talking with Coran a few days ago-you were begging him to get near a sun you saw and you said you really miss the sunlight and um, I thought this might make you happy.”  
He carried on when he got no response from Lance, the taller boy’s gaze torn between him and the marvel in his hands.  
“Of course I didn’t do this myself-I actually did very little. I told Hunk about it and he said he could consult Pidge and they’d work on it together. Then Allura and Coran got whiff of it and said they could use some quintessence to make it even better.”

He smiled at the gaze Lance gave him, bringing himself closer to him.  
“Allura said she could take some of my quintessence, if I focus on what I want this orb to contain and what I’d want it to mean to you, and she could manipulate it into the core. I just, I thought of wanting it to make you happy and comfort you.” he blushed, the pink tint stark against his skin, brightly illuminated by the shared glow between them.

“She said she also needed some of your quintessence so the orb would kinda exude the warmth that’d be the most comforting to you. I think she said she’d have to try and make you think of your memories of the place you miss and alter them to get into the core as well. And as for Shiro, I knew he’s the only one that could force you out of bed in a matter of seconds so…” he sighed, bringing a hand at the back of his neck. 

It all clicked. Hunks deliberate silence, the conversation with Allura, Pidge’s bad puns-Keith’s bashfulness.   
They weren’t planning something _against_ him.  
They were planning something _for_ him.

“Sorry for waking you up by the way. We were all just really excited to give it to you and we’re far away from any constellations so it’s as dark as it could get and-“

He didn’t get another word in before Lance’s lips were on his, unable to hide his smile and shakes of laughter.

There’re tears at the sides of his cheeks by now but he doesn’t care, can’t bring himself to care, he’s kissing the person he loves and there’s a warmth in his chest that’s not coming from the small sun in his grip and he’s _happy_ , happier than he’s ever been in a long time and it’s all because of a pair of bright eyes and a private smile and chapped lips and-

 

He feels Keith huff, puffs of laughter tinting his lips and he grins, bringing the hand that wasn’t holding the sun to wrap over his boyfriend’s back.

“What’s so funny?” he whispered, bringing his forehead over his so he can take a better look at the small smile on his lips.

Keith sighed, wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s waist.

“Nothing. It’s just, you taste warm. Like sunlight.”

It was his turn to huff a laugh, taking note on the question behind Keith’s eyes.

“Nothing. It’s just, you taste like starlight.”

He leaned back in before Keith could protest, the orb long forgotten, levitating above the two, his grip on it loosening in favour for bringing Keith as close as he physically could, wrap his hands around him as tight as he could manage.

Starlight. Sunlight.  
He smiled.

He missed Earth, he missed his planet.   
Yet one look at the boy in front of him and a new thought came to life.

 

Perhaps, with their starry eyes and sunny lips, they could make it work.

They could make their own solar system.

 

******

**Author's Note:**

> You'd think after studying in Central Europe for 2 years I'd be used to the gloomy weather but nope. Coming here from a country with so much sunlight felt like a punch in the gut, lol.
> 
> Also, I started writing this between study breaks yesterday and by today...it became nearly 6K words. Don't ask me how, I honestly don't know. Thanks for reading through this mess either way! <3
> 
> Didn't really proofread/edit so I apologise if there's anything wrong T-T
> 
> As always, kudos/comments are very much appreciated!  
> If you'd like to contact me/send a prompt/talk about Keith's fave cryptids, my tumblr is dontmindme-imafangirl.tumblr.com :D
> 
> (BTW a few head canons found themselves into the fic and though they're not too important, I'd like to let you guys know about them lol  
> so 1. After they started dating, Lance realised that Keith really, really, really has no filter. He'll say what's on his mind, will tell Lance how much he loves him in the middle of practice and what not, much to everyone else's dismay. Sometimes his comments don't even make much sense to Lance ((like the one in that post i made where he says 'if i had the chance to trade u with the mothman i wouldn't)) and stuff like that, Lance appreciates them all the same tho:)
> 
> 2.Lance and Hunk have been best friends for yEARS now, ever since they were 8-9 years old, so they're childhood friends and know each other like the back of their hands. It's honestly the sweetest friendship there is, hence Hunk's comment in the fic :^))
> 
> 3.Allura can manipulate quintessence (not really a hc lol) BUT she can also alter it's forms and extract it from others without harm-e.g. when she takes Keith's quintessence that contains his feelings of wanting to comfort Lance, and Lance's quintessence that holds the feelings of love for his planet. She merges them and adds them into the core of the orb. Hope that makes sense!!)
> 
> Sorry for the long rant hahah. That's pretty much it, see you at the next fic! :)


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